The Merle Forest?
Yeah, that's right.
Beyond Liverchester, there's an impossibly vast wilderness out there.
You can walk and walk and never get anywhere.
When your vision gets blurry, your throat parched, and your legs hurt...
When you're too tired to walk, that's when it drags you off.
The Merle Forest.
Wh-What happens to the people who end up in that forest?
Yeah, they become one of the Earless.
They lose their memories of when they were human and can't even die.
They wander about that forest for the rest of their lives in agony.
And then, when the next person comes along...
Yeah, someone dumb-looking like you, and they go...
Okay, that's enough.
Sis?
There you all go teasing Echo again.
You, too, Mr. Bruno?
Come on, we're going home.
Later, kid.
Next time, I'll tell you a story that's way, way scarier!
Honestly!
What are you going to do if you can't go to the bathroom alone again?
Sis, the Earless are scary monsters, right?
That's right. If you're naughty, they'll come and eat you!
Come on!
But where do the Earless come from?
Mr. Bruno said that they used to be people once, but is that true?
Mr. Bruno said that?
There you go believing stories like that again. He just made that up.
But the Earless...
Yeah, well, a Player could probably tell you all about the Earless.
A Player?
Yes, because the ones who fear the Earless the most...
...are Players.
"Half Man"
It's all over.
We wrecked the monument and the mayor got crushed under it...
And we ran away in the first place!
Oh, I knew it! I should've just minded my own business!
Shut up!
--Mu? --All this endless sighing and moaning!
We can't help what's already happened!
It'll be fine.
And that mayor guy didn't seem like the sort who'd die so easily.
Besides, that was an accident to begin with.
Well, that's true...
Let's forget about it. Got it?
O-Okay.
More importantly... Here!
Th-This is dangerous!
Never mind that!
What?
I had no idea... that the world was so big...
If you ask me, it's like, eh, I guess that's about right.
That's some big talk coming from someone with no memories.
But... Well, yeah.
It doesn't look like I'll ever be bored.
I'm bored.
I'm sorry.
--Echo! Hey, wake up! --Huh? I-I wasn't sleeping!
What's with the sleepy talk? Look!
Whoa. I feel like I might get sucked in.
Right? I bet if you fell here, you wouldn't stand a chance.
D-Don't tempt fate like that!
I'm already scared of heights and of the dark...
--Wha... Wha? What's that? Wha... Wh-Wh-Wh-Wh-Wha...
--What are you saying all "wh-wh-what" for? --Wha... Wha? What's that? Wha... Wh-Wh-Wh-Wh-Wha...
Th-Th-Tha... Th-Th... That! That!
Earless?!
D-Do not turn over!
Echo!
You don't need to tell me!
Trying to barge in to our personal space?!
You audience members have really terrible manners!
But that's fine.
I'll make a special exception tonight.
I'll show you a super awesome time!
It's coming!
Th-That pose!
She defeated the Earless this morning with that!
Nailed it!
Huh?
It won't fire.
What?
Loss of consciousness. Could they be dead?
It doesn't matter either way.
Because it basically means that we're alive.
But that light just now...
No doubt about it.
That was none other than that which we have been seeking.
The power that was lost.
Yearning will, in time, give birth to new collapse.
Heaven's final beast planted a seed.
Yes. All shall be thrown open once more.
Let's Do It a Dada!
It's a miracle that we're alive.
Aww, why didn't that explodey thing happen?
Explodey?
Oh, that attack that looked like a punch of light?
Yeah, it came so easily back in Liverchester.
That's easy. It's because you don't have a name for the attack.
Huh?
In the end, with an ultimate attack,
you need to shout out a cool name or two to make it legit, you know?
There's even that famous saying. "For big attacks, start with the name."
What's with that stupid-sounding saying?
Anyway, that's the reason you couldn't pull off the attack.
Just settle on a cool name and it'll solve everything. All okay!
I totally don't think that's it.
Wait, what are you doing?!
I came up with a couple attack names, but...
My top pick is Arizona Chainsaw...
Didn't I say earlier that I'd kill you if you looked this way?
Please forgive me.
I've been wondering about it for a while now,
but what's that thing you do?
What thing?
That "hm-hm-hmm" thing you were also doing on the train.
Huh? Well, that's--you know...
Hmm... Hm?
I don't know. It's like, vocalizing through my nose, but...
I was doing it without thinking.
Without thinking?
You know, that might be a clue to the memories you lost.
Like maybe it's something you do in the country where you were born.
A country, as in one of the places listed in here?
Oh, my Players almanac! When did you--
But, right...
Yeah, it might be good to ask Players in various countries about you.
It must be tough in a lot of ways to have no memories, after all.
And I want to know more about you, too, so...
Y-You want to know?
--Huh? --N-Nothing.
Well, whatever. Flip it open real quick to page 31.
--Thirty-one? --Yeah.
For example, Ecrit Pton of the Solid State Union on that page
is history's longest serving Player.
And I'm sure he knows a lot about Players and such.
Oh, but even if he doesn't work out, there are others.
Take a look on page 125.
That Polly Bee person
apparently believes in increasing the number of female Players,
so it wouldn't be surprising if she knew about you.
Also, Dr. Cula Specta on page 275 is dead now,
but he was so knowledgeable and wise, he was known as "The Sage."
So, we might find clues in that country, too.
--Plus-- --H-Hold on a second.
Are you telling me you have this whole thing memorized?
Sure, because I like it.
They publish one every year and it keeps getting thicker,
but I have every single word memorized.
Every single word?
But that doesn't mean I know about every Player.
When I was a kid, I saw him. A Player who's not in the almanac.
The adults said I must have dreamed it and didn't take me seriously,
but he was a really cool Player.
It seems to happen once in a while.
Players who don't get put in the almanac.
So, I think there's probably some special reason with him, too, but...
Special reason, huh...
Oh, come to think of it, you're not in the almanac, either.
Hey...
S-Sorry, I didn't mean to...
Huh?
Mu?
Whew!
It's been a crazy day, after all.
Mu really is something else.
Going on a journey to find out who you really are...
Yeah, that wouldn't be so bad.
And along the way, maybe we'll even find him...
Now, then...
I guess I'll go to sleep soon, too.
But before that, bathroom.
Right. Like there's one around.
L-Let me at least find a spot a ways away...
For real?
Oh, no, no, no, no. It's so obviously sketchy.
Or more like, it's scary! There's no way I could go there...
Echo?
What's up with this spooky bathroom?
C-Can't be helped.
That reminds me,
I used to be scared of going to the bathroom at night a lot.
The days the old timers told me scary stories were the worst.
What was that again? That story about the scary forest...
I think it was called the Merle Forest...
Could it be... that this place is...
Beautiful things have thorns.
Makes the nervous system dance.
And that is what makes for an architectural strategy.
G-Ghosts!
Oh, such ugliness!
Dear Sister!
Be strong!
This is bad, bad, bad, bad!
Mu! There's some sketchy people...
What?
You're kidding... Right?
What?
Boy.
You will answer us.
The Core Part in that girl's possession. Where did you get it?
Is that girl the successor? Or is she...
...nothing more than a remnant of the Collapse?
Th-The Collapse?
I-I have no idea of what you speak...
Oh!
That pattern and the unique way of talking...
Could you be the three Neubauten sisters on page 153 of the almanac?!
Indeed, we are the proud devotees of Noise and...
...the observers of the new buildings that will collapse.
Yes, they call us...
I-I'm a huge fan!
Your combat style's unique aesthetic of destruction and architecture...
Your identities have never been revealed
and you might or might not have fanatical fans all over the world!
A-Autograph, please!
A-Autografpleez...?
A-Autograph...
It's the autografpleez we've heard so much about, Dear Sister!
I-I-I've never done an autograph! Do you write it? Do they write it?!
Autograph, please!
Dear Sister!
S-S-Stay calm.
Look, I have a pen here.
Oh! Truly, how well-prepared you are, Dear Sister!
Let us write it for him! And let him write for us!
Thank you so much! Thank you so much! My family will treasure it!
He's rejoicing! We're being rejoiced, Dear Sister!
Shh! He'll hear you! We keep our cool, no matter what!
We wrote for him. All that remains is to be written by him, Dear Sister!
Yes, the thing is to be written.
To be written in return is what makes an autograph!
No... No. No!
Oh, honestly!
Where the heck did he wander off to?!
Man! And I keep hearing this weird thing, too!
Oh!
There you are!
What were you thinking?!
Wandering off alone at this hour...
Wh-What happened to you? Did you eat something bad?
Child of Light.
We have come for you.
Who are you people?
We're no one. We're going to become someone after this, together with you.
His Greatness changed the essence of this world in the great war that was.
And we have now happened upon an element of him.
There is no need for boorish words.
Echo?!
Did you people do this?
No, he suddenly became that way.
Oh, please! That is an incredible coincidence.
That's one way to put it.
In other words, isn't this an incredible inevitability?!
Now, successor to the Dada world, let us go together.
To the depths of the collective unconscious.
Enough of this crazy talk!
Oh...
--Dear Sister! --How could this be?
The Dada successor refusing an invitation to the new world?
However, if we are to be at odds, that, too, is an inevitability.
Abiding by it is indeed what the unconscious is for.
Accepting the unconscious is our philosophy.
In which case, all that remains is to let the waves take us.
Weil!
--Weil! --Weil!
With pain, listen!
Where...
These guys are being controlled?!
Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk. Your use of power is all over the place.
You're no good, either. No good at all.
You know, Dear Sister,
perhaps this child doesn't know how to use the Dada power.
No, and not only that,
but she's not even up to par with an ordinary Player.
Oh, the poor thing.
A Player is one who makes their conviction heard.
And yet, I feel nothing from you.
You're simply writhing about, without even any sense of pride.
Thus, you incur the wrath of the Earless.
You're not making any sense!
Do you want to know? Where the Earless come from.
What they continually wander about in search of.
The Earless are humans who failed to become Players.
Their howls... Their phantoms...
The Earless are people?!
Yes.
Hence, the shred of reason left to the Earless
is a constant source of suffering.
Unable to be human nor beast,
they just single-mindedly seek salvation from Players.
Half man.
Diametrically opposite beings to us Players and yet of the same substance.
That is their true nature.
So what if that's true?!
Echo told me...
I'm a Player.
I have to defeat the Earless--
What was that just now?
Oh? Is she beginning to awaken a bit?
--What? --That's only natural. After all, you're special.
Oh! His Greatness, who was a Player
and who also reigned as king of the Earless.
Our great liege, who led the world towards a tranquil ruin.
You feel it, too, don't you?
The same element of ruin as him that flows in your body.
I already told you that you're not making any sense!
Oh? It seems you're still half asleep.
In that case...
How about something like this?
Echo!
Now, hurry up and unleash your power.
If you don't, we'll turn this kid into an Earless.
Don't mess with me!
There's nothing hard about it. All you have to do is accept it.
Go on, lend your ear to their voices.
What will you do?
Where will you go?
How will you destroy the world?
Shut up!
You don't get to decide who I am!
Oh, how beautiful.
No, not yet.
She is merely howling, swinging around the chain of her ego.
Get out of my way!
Oh...
What?
See? You end up destroying things so easily.
Welcome to the world of Players!
What?
That's...
In the day-to-day spent shoe-gazing by those who hang their heads,
around the time the feedback of the ringing in your ears
turns into a melody,
everyone will be sure to have forgotten
our blood-smeared anniversary.
The knights who alighted upon a loveless world,
found something with their insane eyes.
Now, call out your name.
"You Made Me Realise" "You Made Me Realise."
Pray now and be a Player.